On Thu, Apr 17, 2008 at 8:48 AM, Stuart Jansen <sjansen at buscaluz.org> wrote:
> Yeah, the American healthcare system is so much better than Canada and
> western Europe.
Probably not the best example to trot out in defense of governmental competence.
America's healthcare system (as flawed as it is) *is* so much better
than Canada and western Europe (despite what Michael Moore would have
you believe). Personally, I think you get more mileage out of the
public transportation comparison.
---
'In France in 2003, 15,000 mostly elderly hospital patients died in an
August heat wave--because hospitals lack air conditioning and doctors
were on vacation. The French parliament blamed the health care system.
That's five times 9/11's toll, all of it preventable.'
---
'The Canadian Supreme Court struck down a law forbidding private
insurance in a 2005 decision, ruling that "Access to a waiting list
is not access to health care" The decision resulted from a Canadian
case in which a man waited a year for hip-replacement surgery, and
Canada has started down the road of privatization.'
---
'In his EW interview, Moore tacitly admitted that "Sicko" lies about
wait times, saying, "Well, okay, let's set up a system where we don't
have the Canadian wait. Let's set up a system where we take what they
do right and don't do the things that we do wrong." Yes, and let's
also make sure that every girl gets to be the prettiest girl in town.
Those who have mastered basic economics can skip this paragraph. Not
everyone can have everything they want because there is not an
unlimited supply of anything (except maybe air); that's why Canada and
Britain have lotteries to determine who gets treatment.'
---
'There isn't enough money in the U.S. to pay for free, wait-free
top-quality universal health care. The law of supply and demand can no
more be repealed than the law that all documentary films must be
left-wing. Gratzer's book suggests a real-world solution:
decentralization that gives patients more choice: "both failed options
[HMOs and Medicare/Medicaid] share one fatal feature. They remove
choices from patients and give them to government or corporate
bureaucrats. Restricting patient choices in this way, flouting the
laws of basic economics, has been a mistake. It's the reason why,
while pocket calculators have declined in price from $500 to $5, the
price of pacemakers keeps rising."'
---
-Bryan